Des and I were discussing Skinny Girl in Transit, among other things, and wandered into the subject of things our mothers say and believe that we can’t believe they believe – those things totally removed from fact or proof or science. Yes, those.

And so the second ‘episode’ of Voice Notes was birthed. We asked a few friends to share with us some of those myths their mothers staunchly believe – stemming from protective instincts, trying to maintain our innocence or perhaps just unquestioned tradition? We don’t know. The myth subjects we got range from illness to spirits to breasts to food to mental illness.

We hope you find them as fascinating as we did; here are the voice notes:

I love getting voice notes. I love scurrying to a corner, or outside whatever noisy space I’m in, sticking my earphones in and listening to a voice carry a message over to me. It’s intimate and special and the difference between voice notes and real-time conversations is the lack of interruptions and awkward pauses – the person is able to complete a thought and relay it and you’re able to take it all in before sending a reply. It’s more intentional.

My friend, Des, and I like voice notes and there are so many random topics that we bat between us everyday – so we had this idea to send out the same question/topic to a couple of our friends and have them reply us via voice notes.

Today’s topic is about the weirdest dream you can remember. There are some funny ones, some scary ones and a few WTF ones. It’s all random. It is by no way at professional quality, just a little experimental project between friends.

I first discovered Haneefah through her fashion, she’s influencing fellow muslimahs through her fashionable modest clothing. And then I found out what a splendid artist she is. She’s gotten some fame recently through the Hijarbie Instagram page (she makes the clothes herself!) and via her entries for the Samsung/Re.Le Tech Meets Art competition, but this woman isn’t stopping yet – she is in the process of creating her own clothing brand, Hanie Collection: “Nigeria modest lifestyle for the contemporary woman”.

There’s something about Kenya, isn’t there? It’s got to be something in the water there that inspires creativity and confident self-expression. I don’t know anyone who has visited Nairobi in recent times who hasn’t expressed their desire to return, maybe even live there full time. I haven’t been but it is way up on my list.

Here’s a really short list of my favourite Kenyan creatives on Instagram. These are the ones whose feeds I stalk almost daily. My imaginary friends and kin, safeguarding my spot in Nairobae.